


Dino Fever

by Crescent_Moon_Demon



Category: Transformers: Rescue Bots Academy (Cartoon)
Genre: Budding relationships, Confessions, F/M, Heat Cycles, Mild Angst, Mixed CNA, Oneshot, adaptive issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-16 16:27:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29456709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crescent_Moon_Demon/pseuds/Crescent_Moon_Demon
Summary: Hoist was learning that dinobots were actually pretty cool- so cool, it was a no-brainer when he had to pick his third form on what he wanted to become. What he didn't anticipate is that adopting beastial coding means unlocking something....primal. Something that threatens his friendship with Whirl, most of all.
Relationships: Hoist/Whirl
Kudos: 3





	Dino Fever

Being a dinobot was pretty neat! First of all, Hoist was the only one of the team with a beast-mode, but he also was faster, taller and a lot more nimble than he had ever been on wheels. There was the added benefit of not worrying about tires popping in hotter climates, a wider range of vision and this cool ability to smell things, even if they were miles away! The teal youngling was glad that he had scanned his mentor, Grimlock, for his third form and he now understood and respected the power that the dinobots possessed. When one was that large and with this many awesome perks to their CNA, it was no wonder they sometimes could get a little... destructive... unintentionally.

Eventually though the novelty of his scan wore off and Hoist was left troubled by the series of neural twitches, phantom itches and periods of excessive heating in random parts of his frame that began to inflict him on an increasingly regular basis. So when the mood swings started, he immediately sought out a professional: the dinobots themselves.

**xXx**

"...and then I shambled together some sort of nest in my room, but even after doing it I was unhappy," Hoist explained, pacing back and forth uneasily, "I was just, sort of, mad all orn, but like in the back of my processor and when things started getting really annoying to me I _growled_. At Professor Chase no less!"

"I just don't know what's happening to me. What if I end up biting someone? I-i'll get expelled!," the youngling cried out, fretfully, whirling around to face his little audience.

"Sounds like your CNA is maturing," Snarl remarked dully.

"Yep. Heat cycle's coming, newspark," Sludge concurred, swinging his long neck in lieu of a nod. "You're gonna want to stash some energon rations nearby; maybe think about moving your nest outdoors. Sounds like your room is unfit and your coding is subconsciously trying to let you know it's dissatisfied."

"Okay, first off: I'm not sleeping outside," Hoist replied, brow furrowed warily. "Earth is awesome but it's also kinda... dirty. And cold. Secondly: What's a heat cycle?"

Sludge and Snarl shuttered their optics stupidly at the question, glancing at each other before breaking out into a series of chortles. "Seriously? Don't you normies get a lil' hot and bothered sometimes?," the brontosaurus asked.

"Grimlock should be here to explain this to ya. You're his protege," the smaller dinobot grumbled.

"I mean, I kinda wish he was here too but you guys are dinobots also, a-and you said you'd help," the teal youngling said, his unease turning into dread, "B-but now you're weirding me out by giving me answers that don't actually explain things and acting all cryptic about it..."

"Cr-wha?," Sludge interjected dumbly.

Snarl vented in exasperation, flexing the plates running down his spinal struts. "Interfacing, newspark. Heat cycles means you gotta 'face a bunch. Us dinobots gotta expel lots of energy regularly and sometimes breaking stuff ain't enough to do the job. When it builds up to a certain point, next best alternative is fragging," he explained.

"I-INTERFACING?!," Hoist squeaked, servos slapping up towards his face in alarm.

"Yep!," Sludge grinned, "And from the sounds of it, you're nearly ready to pound it out. Nesting and being slightly more temperamental are the first signs it's coming. But seeing as this is your first heat, it'll probably by a couple weeks or a decacyle more before it really hits."

The triple-changer was red with embarrassment at the revelation, his neural net crackling wildly. "I-i-i can't- N-no, th-that's impossible!," he stuttered out, feeling woozy, "I-i have s-school a-and I'm s-sure it's a-against the ru-rules t-to-"

"Rules, Schmules," the largest dinobot spat, lowering his helm towards the blushing youngling. "What's that dinky school gotta do with a heat cycle? Your spike's under your codpiece, ain't it not?"

"He probably has no 'bot to take to a nest," Snarl said, stomping the earth with a massive pede, softening it, before he laid down.

"Well, if that's the only thing stopping him, I'll just make a call back home. My lil' Slash will take care of you right good," Sludge beamed. "She's well versed in handling her heat cycles; never heard a complaint, so she's told me."

"...I don't think the newspark cares for that idea," the stegosaurus huffed, eyeing Hoist as he swayed dangerously on his pedes.

"Well, if he ain't got someone else to frag, why he fussing so much then?," the other dinobot scowled.

"T-there's gotta b-be a w-way to stop th-this heat thing!," Hoist pleaded. "I-i can't g-go through t-this! I-i'm not a re-real dinobot!"

Snarl shook his own helm. "Not if you act like that. If you think it's that much of a bother, why not talk to your medic bud. There are ways to tamp down a call to interface," he pointed out.

"Not fun ones, though," Sludge muttered, his low tone contemptuous at the suggestion.

"O-okay, okay, t-that's good to know," the triple-changer tried to smile, his rising panic slowing. "So I-i don't actually have to do t-this... h-heat thing... M-medix can stop it?" The dinobots rolled their massive shoulders in a queer shrug. That wasn't very encouraging.

"W-what if I don't... just don't ever transform into dino-mode again?," Hoist asked, his tanks starting a roil as his nervousness grew. "I m-mean, you s-said I'm only g-going through this 'cause o-of me s-scanning your dinobot CNA s-so if I just never u-use my b-beastmode, I shouldn't b-be bothered by this h-heat thing and the weird c-changes w-will just fade a-away on their o-own. R-Right?"

"Sure."

"Whatever you need to tell yourself, newspark."

Clinging to his self-made delusion, the teal youngling nodded his helm vigorously. "O-okay. S-so I'll just never t-transform into a d-dino again! Awesome...," he cheerfully forced out, turning back around and switching into vehicle-mode.

The two dinobots watched as the recruit drove off through the trees, leaving a massive trail of dust and broken shrubbery in his wake. Sludge laid his neck up against a tree, using the rough bark to get at an itch on his plating. "His first heat is gonna be a doozy," he commented blandly.

"Always is for the ones that try to deny it," Snarl agreed, rolling over onto his side for a late afternoon nap.

**xXx**

"Remember to gently lay the root-ball into the holes, recruits, and then remove the burlap and rope before you put the soil in," Boulder instructed, carefully pulling along a flatbed of green saplings. "Once done, add in the soil and water as I instructed, so as not to damage the roots. As soon you've finished planting your set of trees, head back down the hillside to the rendezvous point and we'll return to the Academy."

"Sure thing, professor," the recruits chorused in return. Headlamps flashing in approval, the bulldozer drove over the dark earth, slowly making his way to a separate area of the forest.

"It sure is a shame how so much of the trees were lost in the fire," Whirl mused aloud, taking care to gently tip her sapling into its pre-made hole. "So many acres of thriving plant life and lil' critters without their home..."

"Who knew that lightning could affect even Earth's organic growth," Medix added, tipping his own helm at the sorrowful state of events. "It is no wonder the humans are incapable of handling this much damage themselves."

"And that's why we're here. Now that the debris is cleared out and the ruined topsoil swept away, these new trees will help replenish the forest and get everything back in balance again," Wedge said, smiling as he patted his servos free of dirt. "We can do a lot more than the humans can so let's make sure we give it our all!"

"...Hey, Hoist," Hot Shot piped up, half-distracted as he gently dribbled water from his jets into the newly planted trees, ""You gonna say anything? You've been awfully quiet since we got out here and you're usually super keen of Earth stuff."

"Hm? What?" The teal youngling spun around awkwardly, glancing at his friends for a moment before he snapped his helm away again. "N-no, I'm fine. Sorry. I'll just get this wrapped up."

Hoist felt four pairs of optics burning against his backstruts as he fumbled with his tree; a fact that he did his best to ignore. The fire-damaged mountainside was the last place he wanted to be. He'd struggled all week to remove things from his private quarters like blankets and plants, ignoring all neural twitches and even refraining from watching documentaries on Earth animals. All to discourage this weird heat thing that was tethered into his beast-mode. Despite his discomfort, Hoist's preventative measures seemed to be working. He had not lost himself to his modified CNA! Except... The scent of freshly mineralized soil, ash, and a myriad of other decaying bacteria and gasses was invading his olfactory sensors in an aggressive fashion, causing his whole frame to itch uncontrollably from within. The teal recruit felt as if he was losing control; a desire to bury himself in the mess of the destroyed forest was growing stronger with every passing klik.

Primus, he hoped that this mission was nearly done. He needed to get out of here quickly! The anxious youngling ripped the burlap sack away from the tree's roots, shoving the creaking sapling further into its hole in his haste.

"...Hoist, let me... uh... lend you a servo," Whirl said, stepping into the other youngling's line of sight.

Hoist wanted to protest as she reached for the tree but his vocalizer fizzled into silence; optics unnaturally bright as the femme leaned in. Whirl was so _beautiful_. Slender limbs allowed her to move and twist with grace, her round, jovial face beset with golden optics that glittered like stars -only partially projecting the energy that poured from her spark in cascades- while her royal blue plating gleamed, unmarred and shined to regulation standards... She had a vocalizer of delicate chimes that rang for kliks after the fact in Hoist's helm, but it was her scent -a mix of fresh wax and crystalized energon, heightened by a touch of crisp ozone- that was causing his intakes to cycle quicker in mounting repetition, neural net crackling while his plating quivered at the seams.

"Hoist, you're gonna snap it, holding it like that!," Wedge interjected sourly, appearing suddenly on the teal recruit's right side.

His arm shoved past Whirl's tiny servos, forcing the femme to take a step back-

And the orange youngling found himself thrown across the ashy hillside, the dinobot settling evenly back on his pedes as he roared loudly toward the fallen recruit.

"Wedge!," Hot Shot called out in alarm, slamming into Medix as he ducked out of the way of the miniature T-rex's next charge. The pair toppled into an empty hole, groaning, but keeping out of sight as their friend stomped around their hiding place, growling lowly.

"H-hoist!," Whirl gasped, flinching a little as the teal recruit marched back to her; the green band that covered his optics opaque and unreadable, as his beastly lip components pulled away to show his large fangs, a rumble echoing out from deep within his chestplates still. She shuffled back another couple steps, intakes hitching as she nearly toppled into another hole, balanced precariously on the edge, torn by the decision to transform or not. The femme faced forward, swallowing down another squeak, as she found herself nearly olfactory sensor-to-snout with the aggressive Hoist

"Ho-hoist, please," she stuttered out, spark rotating wildly. A touch of dread filled her being as that larger mouth moved closer. She shuttered her optics in fright, expecting the thunderous crunch and searing agony as sharp, titanium teeth latched onto her plating- and was nearly knocked over instead as the dinobot rubbed its helm against her torso, venting loudly as he sniffed about her hips and rotors. "Hoist, a-are you-?"

"What is your _deal_ , Hoist?," Wedge demanded, stomping towards the pair, his scowl barely visible beneath a layer of dirt.

"Wedge, wait!," Whirl cried out.

Too late.

The T-rex backed up, releasing another vicious roar as he faced the orange youngling, charging at the other recruit. Wedge held his stance as the ground shook, grabbing the dinobot's tail when it swung for him a second time.

"You won't be tossing me around this time," he smirked triumphantly to the beast.

The yellow visor flashed in ire before the massive limb was lifting Wedge high into the air, slamming the orange triple-changer into the earth with an audible wallop. Snarling, the T-rex yanked its tail free from lax fingers, spinning on the dazed youngling, mouth opening wide in preparation of the killing bite.

"Stop, Hoist!"

Then arms wrapped around the beast's snout, tiny, blue frame forcing the mouth to close again with its sudden weight. The dinobot snorted irritably, shaking its helm momentarily before it paused, catching the gaze of the femme.

"Hoist, please, they are your _friends_. Don't hurt them," Whirl pleaded softly, her golden optics shining brightly up into the beast's visor.

Intakes stalling, the dinobot froze in her embrace, a familiar glow returning to her friend's optical band. "...W-whirl?," Hoist whispered out meekly. He lowered his helm to set the blue recruit gently back on her own pedes; his attention sliding to Wedge in the process, laying prone still in a crater of his own shape and groaning at his injuries. It did not escape his notice how Hot Shot and Medix peered at him warily from another hole.

"Hoist, it's gonna be okay. We just-," Whirl began. She reached out hastily though as he back-pedaled away from her. "Wait, please!"

But the triple-changer was already off and running down the sparse mountain side, disappearing through the space bridge portal at its bottom and out of sight completely.

"Why in the name of Primus did Hoist go all 'Jurassic' on us!?," Hot Shot piped up, finally clambering out of his hiding place. "He was going to beat us all into scrap!"

Whirl clutched an arm anxiously, her optics still fixated on the bridge's open vortex. "Not everyone...," she murmured quietly to herself.

**xXx**

What had he _done_?!

Hoist stumbled through the forest bordering the Academy's property, coolant coating his optics and servos shaking as he gently pushed past tree and underbrush. His whole neural net was ablaze with the need to transform and answer the call of his new, primal coding; contrasted by the icy chill gripping his spark as he silently despaired. He had hurt his friends... Tossed Wedge about like a Lob-ball, scared Hot Shot and Medix, and Whirl-

The triple-changer choked at the thought of the femme, flinching at the physical pain his own regrets invoked. Who knows what terrible things he might have done to her, had he not snapped out of his daze when he did. The memory of her scent and warm touch was again stirring the unfathomable fire within Hoist; beastial demands to _**claim-fill-destroy**_ all would-be competitor's over the femme ringing loudly in his helm. It was enough to make the recruit scream! His thought, belatedly again, that he should be in the medbay this very instant, having Ratchet diagnose him -especially seeing how he was going to be punished either way for abandoning a mission and refusing to answer comms- but that would also mean confessing that the youngling had lost control. Over _himself_. Hoist wasn't sure he could live with the shame...

"H-how could anyone understand o-or forgive me. My friends, especially," Hoist mumbled aloud, a lace of static seeping into his tone, "I-if I even have any friends a-after this..."

The teal recruit paused in his aimless wandering, staring at the forest floor as the tears doubled. Certainly he'd be kicked out of the Academy now for harming fellow students; he'd have to forget about ever being a Rescue Bot, or an engineer, and go live with the rest of the dinobots: smelling like them, eating like them, making only dinobot relationships... He'd miss out on everything here at the Academy. He'd no longer get to be an inventor. He'd no longer get to study Earth and all its culture! He'd-

Energon and ozone filled his olfactory sensor, yanking Hoist's neural net in several different directions all at once, while he turned around in terror; optics lighting on the tiny femme rounding a large oak. "W-whirl! No! N-no, you're n-not supposed to be he-here!," Hoist quailed, rushing backwards blindly. His leg caught in a twisting tree root, trapping the teal recruit.

"Of course I should be," Whirl rebutted, stepping quick-footed over the forest's cluttered floor, a servo grabbing the other triple-changer's forearm. "You're not acting like yourself, Hoist, and I'm worried about you!"

"N-no, you d-don't under-," the taller Autobot stuttered out, vocalizer clicking off as his processor was overrun by a wall of incoming data in the femme's approach. And that blasted heat cycle, burning like molten lava through his lines and piping. He felt a growl bubble out from deep within his chestplates, servos lashing out and pulling the blue recruit forward until they stood a mere, few inches apart. His plating practically squirmed on his frame, clanging quietly in distress at the short gasp the other recruit gave.

"H...Hoist, you're in pain," Whirl's gentle vocalizer said, prodding at the fog flooding Hoist's helm just then. "Please, talk to me. What's wrong?"

She was so complacent in his grasp... beautiful... ripe to his senses... Getting under her plating would be so effortless. _**Bite, Take, Claim...**_ The incessant needs of his primal coding had taken on a voice of their own, looping in his helm with growing pitch. It'd be simple, the carnal want in him argued. Whirl hadn't tried to fight as of yet; she had come to him no less! This was as good a consent as any. His clouded optics were surveying the femme's neck for the best place to bite, when a pair of servos were snatching at his own face, forcing him to look into a set of golden optics.

"Hoist, you're burning up!," Whirl exclaimed in horror, her features hardening shortly as her mouth pulled down into a scowl. "You should be in the stasis pod if you're unwell, not running around in the woods! Have you been sick this entire time and didn't tell anyone?"

"N-no! Yes? I-i mean...," the teal recruit stuttered, cowed by the smaller youngling's ferocity. It did cause his internal temperature to skyrocket though, making Hoist sway on his pedes as his equilibrium chip disabled momentarily. "I-it's... this b-beast mode," the larger triple-changer whimpered in confession. "It's g-got this b-bad line of c-code th-that makes me go i-into heat w-which is t-this thing th-that means I-i gotta i-interface a-and I t-tried to m-make it g-go away b-but-"

His words fizzled out into further static as Whirl moved closer, her servos sliding down to rest on the other Autobot's shoulders. "Does...," she started softly, her optics darkening until they looked like smelting pools, staring up at the teal recruit partially dimmed, "That mean you really want to interface... with me?"

His plating was rattling so hard, Hoist was sure it would fly off at any astrosecond! "We-well, th-that's-," he grunted awkwardly.

"If it'll help, I don't mind if you do it to me," Whirl added, arms wrapping around the nervous mech's neck, chestplates bumping together roughly.

His desires exploded into an inferno; spike hitting the interior of his codpiece with barely caged need. "N-NO!," Hoist yelled, pushing the pair of them apart in a panic. The tree root broke as he ripped his pedes free finally, the afflicted Autobot scrambling backwards even as he fell on his aft. He could feel the beastial coding rear its ugly head again, electrifying his neural net in agony as he struggled to remain above the wave of primal commands. "I d-don't want that! N-not like th-this!"

Every fibre of his being hurt, torn between conflicting directions, being exacerbated further by the femme's presence. Whirl was so smart, beautiful, funny, sweet and oh-so-agreeable... And here he was destroying the friendship they had built! Hoist sobbed in misery. He sensed as the blue recruit drew closer, flinching when she knelt by his side, a servo touching his own.

"It'll be okay," she soothed kindly, back to her usual demeanour, "C'mon. Let's see if Ratchet can help."

The teal youngling allowed himself to be pulled to his pedes and guided out of the forest, quietly sniffling the whole trip back.

**xXx**

The visit to Ratchet resulted in a very long, embarrassing scolding before Hoist was made to lay on a slab and put into medical stasis, while a sizable data packet was downloaded into his CPU. When the triple-changer awoke, it was to find two sets of optics looking down on him from above.

"Well, diagnosis read-outs are normal. You're free to take him now; I'll update Heatwave on his status," Ratchet said, directing his attention to his companion.

"Righty-O!," Whirl chirped merrily, smiling at the still-prone recruit. "Hey, Hoist. Feeling better?"

Hoist chuckled nervously, scrambling to get up and off the berth before Ratchet could give him another lecture. "Yeah. Uh... p-perfect as pie, a-as the humans s-say," he forced out, moving quickly out of the medbay.

Despite his quickness, Whirl had no trouble keeping in stride. "I'm glad that's so. The others were still a bit mad about what happened this morning but they got worried really fast after they heard you were admitted into the medbay. They all want to know if you're alright," the femme shared, almost dancing while Hoist trudged on uneasily. "Even Grimlock bridged over to check up on you after hearing the news."

"Yeah, that's- W-wait, Grimlock?!," the teal Autobot remarked in surprise, stopping and looking to the other recruit.

Whirl paused in her stride, turning to her companion. "Yes. He was scared you were in serious trouble; he thought your CPU was rejecting the dino-coding of your alt-mode. He was super grateful that you were okay... though a lil' upset you didn't speak to him about your dino-problems," she informed.

Whirl waited a moment, before asking, "Hoist, why did you try to tackle this all by yourself? Don't you trust us?"

Hoist twisted his servos together as a wave of guilt overcame him. "L-listen, Whirl, I-i know I said some things i-in the woods," the teal youngling said, glancing at his pedes, "B-but I wasn't myself, a-and I don't want you to feel obligated-"

"Obligated to, what, Hoist?," the blue Autobot questioned, her face ducking into his line of sight. With a yelp, the larger triple-changer shambled back a few steps, alarmed at how close the femme had gotten. Whirl made sure to close the gap again quickly.

"Did you seriously think I was offering to 'face with you because... because I'm 'friendly'? Hoist," she huffed, placing one servo on her hip while the other rapped squarely on the mech's forehelm. "I'm not like that. I offered because I _like_ you, Hoist. And I think it's pretty obvious you feel the same about me- heat or no heat."

Hoist's face was burning, his spark spinning uncontrollably at the unexpected statement. "W-wait, what-? I-i- You c-can't-!"

Whirl shuttered her optics adorably, straightening up as her arms crossed over her torso. "Why can't I?"

"B-because I, I'm clumsy and k-kinda cowardly an-and I gotta a beast-mode and there's waaaaay better 'bots to like, l-like, um, Ho-hot Shot or Medix or-"

"Hoist, you are not clumsy nor cowardly," Whirl interjected sternly, "And if you think having beastial coding is a problem, I suggest you keep from mentioning that to Professor Grimlock or Bumblebee. I saw him kissing the professor's snout before he left today," she added, in a gleeful whisper.

The taller youngling was certain he'd just swallowed his glossa!

"Anyways," the femme continued, sliding her fingers into her companion's open palm, "You're a sweet mech, Hoist, shy and kindly. You have so many talents that you take for granted and you care so much for your friends. You're curious, open-minded, supportive... You're the only one who noticed how terrified I was of this year's special mentoring schedule, and when you took the time to comfort me, I knew then how special you really are."

She paused, glancing up at the stunned triple-changer; cheekplates dusted in a fine layer of energon. "I won't really understand how scary it was to be dominated by your new coding, but I'm here for you -no matter what problems may or may not come from this latest side of you. It's okay if you need some more time to process all this stuff -especially now that you're all fixed up- just know that you are not lesser than any 'bot here," Whirl said, rocking up and pecking the other recruit on the cheekplate, before she pulled away entirely. "And I do love you, so if you have any more 'dino-problems', let me know so I can help out."

With a wink and a giggle, Whirl was skipping off down the corridor, leaving Hoist rooted to the spot; his processor heavy with the surge of data and spark pulsing with synchronized desires.

**C.M.D: I can't be the only person who thinks these two are absolutely perfect for each other, can I? Anyways, hope you enjoyed this little oneshot! I may do more HOIL (Whist? Jeez, their names are not easy to contract...) but we'll see how things go in the future.**  
**Be kind; give me your mind~ REVIEW, please?**


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